Thursday, 6 August 2026
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Onimusha: Way of the Sword Hands-On: Raishogan Boss and Real Kyoto Field Impress

The hands-on confirms that Capcom is balancing the series' signature Issen and parry mechanics with a more accessible design, aiming to attract new players while satisfying long-time fans, as evidenced by the inclusion of a boss rematch mode and the deliberate inclusion of modern landmarks like the Twin Dragons ceiling painting at Kennin-ji.

Key Facts

  • Onimusha: Way of the Sword is scheduled for release on September 4, 2026, for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
  • The game is the first completely new Onimusha entry in 20 years, with no connections to previous games.
  • The playable build featured boss fights against Daidara, Raishogan, and Byakue, with Raishogan's battle requiring cutting bond threads with a bow to weaken him.
  • The Switch 2 version supports Joy-Con 2 motion controls for one-handed and two-handed attacks.
  • The Kiyomizu-dera stage in the game reproduces the real stage's floorboard count, and the game includes modern landmarks like the Twin Dragons ceiling painting at Kennin-ji.

Reporting from 5 sources: 4Gamer.net, GAME Watch (Impress), Denfaminicogamer, Automaton, and 1 more.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword Hands-On: Raishogan Boss and Real Kyoto Field Impress

Capcom held a media tour and hands-on event for Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the first completely new entry in the series in 20 years, ahead of its September 4 release on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. The playable build covered the section after the Ganryu battle, including the wide-linear Kyoto field and boss fights against Daidara, Raishogan, and Byakue. The field reproduces real Kyoto landmarks such as Kiyomizu-dera, Yasui Konpira-gu, Rokudo Chinno-ji, and Kennin-ji, with the Kiyomizu stage matching the real floorboard count. The Raishogan battle at Yasui Konpira-gu stood out for its variety of attacks and clear countermeasures, including cutting bond threads with a bow to weaken the boss. The Switch 2 version supports Joy-Con 2 motion controls for one-handed and two-handed attacks. The demo's difficulty was intentionally accessible, but the full game includes stronger enemies and more complex attack patterns. Producer Akito Kadowaki and Director Ken Nihei also discussed the game's sound design, which uses a custom sound-effect sword and a suitcase with a broken drum pedal to create the special move sounds.

  • Raishogan's wish-granting cruelty extends to an old man who wants to sever ties with foot pain, and to a woman struggling with shamisen practice, whose fingers are taken. All victims wear satisfied expressions, which the 4Gamer hands-on calls "a damp horror reminiscent of Japanese ghost stories."
  • Yasui Konpira-gu granted Capcom permission for the depiction. The shrine's "Hachidai Rikison" (Eight Great Power Deities), real objects of faith, appear in the game in the same location and form as reality. Three of the eight are stolen by Genma, and Musashi retrieves them to gain the "Arm Awakening" power.
  • Director Ken Nihei said the "Kuzushi Issen" (break Issen) is less timing-strict than the regular Issen, and that the parry ("uke nagashi") was the breakthrough element that made the team confident the game could compete. He also said the parry has over 300 unique motion variations, one per boss attack.
  • Nihei cited the film "Crows Zero" as an influence on the atmosphere of Musashi and Ganryu, and said unrevealed bosses carry touches of "orthodox yankee, intellectual yakuza, and gangster" energy.
  • The main theme was shown in full for the first time. It uses a suikinkutsu (a buried water-droplet instrument) to represent the connection to the oni world, and its lyrics use invented words with real meaning.
  • Ganryu's theme uses the erhu to convey his volatile emotions; Raishogan's theme uses the shakuhachi for the battlefield's otherworldly quality.
  • For the sword sound, the team rejected a clean blade tone as too refined for Musashi and instead slid a custom sound-effect sword (with a tuning-fork-like base) across a steel beam's ridged surface. The resulting sound matches the parry sound in the demo.
  • The "Oni no Bugu" hammer sound was made by placing a broken drum kick pedal and a doorknob on a suitcase, with a pipe clamp struck on the floor beside it. The broken pedal's rattle was the key element.
  • At Kiyomizu-dera, the game's stage floorboard count matches the real one, but the real stage's slight slope is flattened for playability. The game hides the temple's Eleven-faced Kannon statue by closing doors, an adjustment made with the temple's approval because of violent cutscene content.
  • At Rokudo Chinno-ji, the "Geisho" bell's position differs from reality; the game places it per an old Edo-period map. The bell's recorded sound and rope-pull audio are used in-game.
  • At Kennin-ji, the Twin Dragons ceiling painting (completed 2002) appears despite not existing in the early Edo period. Nihei's stated reason: "It was cool."
  • The "Enkiri Enmusubi" stone at Yasui Konpira-gu was built in 1980, so it is absent in-game; a Genma-made flower object stands in its place.
  • Musashi calls the giant boss Daidara a "pig" and taunts enemies mid-fight, lines the Denfaminicogamer report highlights as part of his "Edo-period yankee" character.
  • Musashi's face model Toshiro Mifune's estate reviewed all facial footage multiple times and approved it, per Producer Akito Kadowaki.
  • Nihei said Ganryu is the character the team spent the most time on, and that he is designed for multiple fights with unrevealed changes. He also noted the name "Ganryu" was chosen so that "Kojirō in Onimusha is Ganryu, and Ganryu means Capcom."

Synthesized by Yomimono from the 5 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword Capcom Miyamoto Musashi Sasaki Kojirō

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